Lessons from the pandemic: What should businesses learn from the shift to remote working?

By Dr Alison Watson, Head of the School of Leadership and Management at Arden University.

The coronavirus pandemic undoubtedly caused huge disturbances to businesses across the world, and while it was a completely unprecedented time full of anxiety and uncertainty for leaders and decision makers, we should have had all the tools in our armoury to enable our businesses to thrive.

With this in mind, it was uncomfortable to witness leaders panic in the face of the challenge – after all, as leaders they should have been able to cope with uncertainty.

And it was also difficult to see some of the initial trust issues that occurred during the transition to working from home arrangements. This trust should have been a given, particularly in a pandemic environment where team members were often going above and beyond the call of duty to perform to their best in what represented a challenging scenario – but some businesses struggled with the lack of control that comes from remote working.

The isolation caused by the pandemic undoubtedly led to mental health issues – this at time led individuals and teams to feel stressed and overwhelmed and is an issue that companies continue to grapple with as they consider working arrangements in the post-pandemic world.

From a business perspective, the lack of direct contact with customers was also a real challenge. Businesses had to find new ways to reach, engage, and interact with their customers to enable opportunities for continued success, despite the impacts of the pandemic.

Leaders have had to make a huge adaptation when it comes to leading virtual teams. While there has been overwhelmingly positive feedback from workers on their ability to work productively from home, managers have had to adapt to ensure elements of their role, such as showing empathy for their teams and being a visible presence in the company, are not compromised while working remotely.

Diversity, equality and inclusion has also been a key challenge. Ensuring that everyone has access to IT and is able to use it to the required standard has been vital in enabling equal access opportunities for the workplace.

And, perhaps most pertinently, the workspace itself has become a source of great debate over the last couple of years. It has undoubtedly made it more difficult for colleagues to separate work and home life, and in some instances individuals have had difficulty planning, or have not had the room to accommodate, a workspace which enables them to have space between their work and home lives.

Smart working, which gives employees more control over when and where they work and prioritises outputs, will continue to be a key focus point for business leaders in the wake of the pandemic. For businesses to truly embrace smart working, they must consider the best use of space – and reconsider whether asking colleagues to be at their desk for set hours every day is conducive to generating results for the business.

On the back of this, they must closely consider how they can empower employees to take control of their day and allow them to consider how they can best support the over-arching results of the business in the day-to-day completion of their role.

Most businesses have embarked on a steep learning curve during the pandemic, but it is one which has highlighted and elevated the importance of digital transformation when it comes to ensuring ongoing business success.

On the back of this we’ve witnessed a workforce which has demonstrated a hunger to adapt to change, learn new skills and adopt new ways of working – the result of which is the raising of skill levels to a greater level than could have been foreseen or anticipated.